Vought-American, formerly known as Vought American Consolidated or V.A.C., is an American entertainment conglomerate known world-wide for the creation and management of superheroes, with their most successful team being the Seven. Originally an arms dealer specializing in equipment and weapons for the United States military, it gained a rather infamous reputation for manufacturing inferior and dangerous products, most notably supplying the US Navy with faulty planes towards the end of WWII such as the Vought Grizzly, as well as the defective M-20 rifles to American marines during the Vietnam War. They managed to re-brand themselves as an entertainment company however, when they created some of the world's first Supes using Compound V, thanks to the work of Jonah Vogelbaum.
Over the years, Vought has made a fortune selling superhero comics and merchandise, but their ultimate goal had always been to incorporate superheroes into the armed forces, an outcome that a majority of politicians, institutions, and governments opposed; including the C.I.A. To prevent this, The Boys were specifically created to counter lobbying efforts from Vought and prevent them from ever getting a foothold in the military, as well as to act as “damage control” for the company’s often times debauched and reckless caped crusaders.
Following the superhuman assault on Washington, which led to the almost complete demise of the world’s superhero population, Vought-American underwent a rebranding, adopting the name American Consolidated with the hope that public attention would shift, allowing them to escape scrutiny. Nevertheless, the exposure of Compound V's shortcomings and the revelation of the genuine nature, including an eventual genocide, of the so-called 'heroes' once glorified by the company, severely weakened Vought American/American Consolidated. Despite these setbacks, Vought continues to exist but is still faced with the same problem they've always had: an inferior, broken product that failed from the start.
History[]
Weapons manufacturing, Compound-V, and the first "superheroes"[]
Since World War II, Vought-American has sought to incorporate superheroes into national defense. Its first product for the military was a fighter plane that was rushed into production to replace the P-51 Mustang; it was discovered that a fatal design flaw killed more Allied pilots than it did the enemy. Although the use of the atomic bomb removed the need for the plane, it revealed a tendency by Vought-American to release flawed products; its next major product was an assault rifle, but due to cutting costs on manufacturing, the rifles resulted in a massacre in Vietnam when they failed to protect the soldiers they were issued to (they proved to be more useful as posts to mount their heads).
Birth of Homelander and the creation of the Seven[]
With the debut of the Seven and the subsequent monopoly of superhumans, Vought-American is in a position to upend the traditional military-industrial complex making heroes into super-powered soldiers. Their current agreement with the American government is arranged so heroes will not possess any actual police powers or interfere with any government service. As a result, heroes are not given any police or rescue training, so they will not be seen as competition. This has created several problems from the beginning: heroes sent to support World War II troops are given no military training and cause the deaths of themselves and the soldiers they were sent to help when they inadvertently lead the enemy to the camp; heroes are unable to provide much help in an actual emergency and are relegated to minor support work that looks good on camera. The worst example is during 9/11. The Seven try to stop the terrorists on a passenger plane but do not understand the tactical or physical challenges involved in entering a plane during flight. They end up sending the fractured plane into the Brooklyn Bridge.
Unable to get the contracts by semi-legal means, they attempted the overthrow of the Russian government with a force of supervillains; manipulated reaction to 9/11; and intended to assassinate the President of the United States.
Vought-American controls both Victory Comics, which whitewashes the exploits of the real-life superheroes; and Red River, a private military company with covert agents in the Secret Service. At the meeting between the Boys and the Seven, Red River operatives used nerve gas on a Delta Force squad that had been assigned as backup. This allowed a naked Homelander to enter the scene and massacre the soldiers. The Boys later came across the grisly scene.
After the superhuman attack on Washington, Vought-American is the subject of a congressional hearing and has rebranded itself as American Consolidated in the correct belief that people will get distracted and forget who they are when the dust settles. The revelations of Compound V's ineffectiveness and the true nature (and eventual genocide) of the so-called 'heroes' the company was so proud of have effectively crippled Vought American/American Consolidated from its former glory, leaving them with one last failed product as James Stillwell finally breaks under the pressure.
Notable Staff[]
- Mr. Edgar
- James Stillwell
- Jessica Bradley
- Jonah Vogelbaum
- The Legend (retired)
- Brewster
- Victor Neuman (formerly)
- Adam Fleisher
Trivia[]
- Vought American shares its name with Vought Aircraft Industries, a company active between the 1930s and the 1960s. The fictional VAC F7U Grizzly is based on the real F7U Cutlass, which was infamously accident-prone and killed 25 pilots over eight years of service. However, Vought American appears to be distinct from the real-world Vought company, as the F4U Corsair, manufactured by the latter, is mentioned in the series.